Nationalism as Culturalism: A Critique
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9256.1995.tb00022.x |
| Author | Sam Pryke |
| Date | 01 February 1995 |
| Published date | 01 February 1995 |
| Subject Matter | Blind Alleys |
Nationalism
As
Culturalism:
A
Critique
Sam
Pryke
Be essay ussesses the currently fashionable
notion that nationalism is cultural phenom-
enon through examination
of
the ‘Godfather’
of
cultural nationalism, Johan Herder. It
jinds
that nations only really arise with poli-
tical nationalist movements and the building
of
nation-states in the 19th centuv.
Introduction
The enormous power
of
nationalism has
never been clearer than at the present time.
It
provides the motivation and legitimation for
the division of the world into an ever increas-
ing number
of
nation-states, and the pursuit
of ethnic exclusivity.
As
we approach the end
of
the 20th century there
is
little
doubt that
nationalism dominates, and will continue
to
dominate, political, social and
to
a lesser
extent economic thinking. Its assumptions
saturate cultures to an almost unconscious
level
of
understanding. Whilst everyone is to
some extent a product
of
nationalism,
it
is
frequently only recognised in others.
The dominance
of
nationalism is at odds
with the predictions
of
most intellectuals who
have studied nationalism. Their conclusion
has frequently been that global integration
and uniformity
will
sap the impetus
of
move-
ments for national separation and indepen-
dence. Of greater importance, history has
confounded the ideology which in principle
posits a quite different basis for state organi-
sation: Marxism. Moreover, the allegedly uni-
versalist ideology of greater contemporary
influence, pan-Islamicism, only imparts in
important respects, a religous colouration
to
nationalist concerns.
The contemporary dominance of national-
ism, the fact that accounts which anticipate its
erosion are
so
manifestly wrong and the
fail-
ure of counter ideologies
to
overcome its
inconsistencies, have predictably given rise to
the assertion that nationalism predates mod-
ernity. Such a view contrasts with the general
academic view over the
last
fifty years, espe-
cially within history, that nationalism first
attained primacy within political discourse
with the wars and revolutions of the late 18th
century, and became internationally dominant
in the 19th century (Smith,
1993).
Though the
very title
of
the most influential book on
nationalism over the last
15
years, ‘Imagined
Communities’, implies the artificiality
of
the
phenomenon,
I
think
it
likely that
a
rather dif-
Sam
Pryke, University
of
Manchester,
6
Political Studies Association
1995.
Published by Blackwell Publishers.
108
Cowley Road, Oxford
OX4
lJF.
UK
and
238
Main Street, Cambridge, MA
02142,
USA.
63
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